Forests under the Southern Cross: The forest environmental frontier in Australia and New Zealand

Australia and New Zealand share many historical and contemporary commonalities. These define five contemporary forest environmental frontiers—for First Nations peoples, between agriculture and forestry, in forest management, in urban and peri-urban environments, and in relation to climate change. In both countries, the First Nations frontier is expanding in scale and significance with those peoples’ rights to land and forests. Frontiers with agriculture and in forest management are longstanding but dynamic and as yet little realised in relation to the need for forest and landscape restoration. Both countries are highly urbanised, elevating the significance of the urban and peri-urban frontier, particularly in the context of climate change. In both countries, forests will be profoundly impacted by climate change and are central to mitigation and adaptation strategies. Experience within and intersections between the frontiers offer encouraging prospects for synergies and for learning between the two countries and more widely.     

转型期土地利用总体规划公共治理职能研究

土地利用总体规划具有较强的公共政策属性,在我国社会转型期,将“公共治理”理论引入土地利用总体规划中,对于公平、有效配置和永续利用土地资源具有重要意义.采用文献资料法和定性分析法,阐述“公共治理”理论的内涵,论证土地利用总体规划公共政策属性,探讨“土地利用总体规划公共治理职能”的含义及功效、主要表现和基本特征.概述我国社会转型期第一、二轮土地利用总体规划发展历程,总结取得的成绩,从转型时期的经济体制改革和社会主义市场经济发展角度分析两轮土地利用总体规划公共治理职能定位及实现过程中所存在的不足.论述转型期社会经济发展对土地利用总体规划公共治理职能的内在要求,从市场化经济、政治民主化进程、全球化和加入WTO背景分析转型期实现土地利用总体规划公共治理职能的社会条件.在此基础上,从公共治理目标、编制实施理念、规划内容、公民社会网络治理、市场配置土地资源功能、法律法规以及各类规划协调配合等七方面,提出实现与完善土地利用总体规划公共治理职能的对策建议.     

Topographic Effects on Soil Organic Carbon in Louisiana Watersheds

Terrestrial carbon storage is influenced by a number of environmental factors, among which topographic and geomorphological features are of special significance. This study was designed to examine the relationships of soil organic carbon (SOC) density to various terrain parameters and watershed characteristics across Louisiana, USA. A polygon data set of 484 watersheds and 12 river drainage basins for Louisiana was used to form the landscape units. SOC densities were calculated for each soil map unit using the State Soil Geographic (STATSGO) database. Average drainage densities and average slopes at watershed and basin scales were quantified with the 1:24 K Digital Elevation Models (DEM) data, and the Louisiana hydrographic water features. Correlation and regression analyses were performed to determine relationships among drainage density, slope, elevation, and SOC. The study found an average watershed drainage density of 1.6 km/km² and an average watershed slope of 2.9 degrees in Louisiana. The results revealed that SOC density at both watershed and basin scales was closely related to drainage density, slope, and elevation. SOC density was positively correlated with watershed drainage density, but negatively correlated with watershed slope gradient and elevation. Regression models were developed for predicting SOC density at watershed and basin scales, obtaining regression coefficients (r ²) ranging from 0.43 to 0.83. The study showed that estimation of SOC at watershed and drainage basin scales combining DEM data can be a feasible approach to improve the understanding of the relationships among SOC, topographic, and geomorphological features.     

Dimensions and models of contemporary public space management in England

This article discusses the concept of public space management and its evolution in a context of wider changes to urban governance. Public space management is taken as a sphere of urban governance in which conflicting societal demands on, and aspirations for, public space are interpreted through a set of processes and practices. Four interlinked dimensions for public space management are proposed: the co-ordination of interventions; the regulation of uses and conflicts between uses; the definition and deployment of maintenance routines; and investment in public spaces and their services. Within this conceptual framework, the paper looks at recent changes in public space management in England to suggest the emergence of alternative models of management. These are based on the roles ascribed to the state, to private agents and to user organisations, and on different approaches to dealing with the four management dimensions. Although the discussion shows that these models are more than just abstract formulations, and have been used to deal with a variety of public space problems, an important purpose for the paper is to provide an analytical framework through which to examine emergent practices in the management of public space and their potential consequences.     

基于沿江开发建设的生态安全格局研究——以九江市为例

随着长江沿江开发的不断深入,区域生态安全与开发建设的矛盾也越来越突出。以九江市沿江开发建设活动与区域生态系统空间结构、生态服务功能相互作用为理念,通过遥感、GIS技术手段,划分小流域单元。并将这些单元作为空间分析与评价的基础,选择工业集中区、城镇居民地、路网布局作为自然生态环境的影响因子或施压因子,以河流级别、湖泊数量和面积、地貌类型、坡度、植被覆盖程度、重要生态功能区类别等作为承压因子,综合叠加形成生态环境压力区划。并以此为基础,构建由5个生态源区和9条生态隔离、缓冲、生物多样性保护廊道组成的生态空间安全体系,用以减缓生态环境压力、消纳水气及土壤污染、稳定区域生态、推进沿江开发建设,实现生态保护空间与区域经济社会发展空间的有序融合,并对重要生态功能保护区提出管制的要求与措施。     

Bridging conceptual “silos”: bringing together health promotion and sustainability governance for practitioners at the landscape scale

Environmental health issues are examples of “wicked problems” that require cross-sectoral collaboration at the community level, yet health practitioners and environmental stakeholders find it challenging to see how and why they could be working together. Supportive organisations have been identified as the most vital enabler for individual professionals to participate actively in cross-sectoral initiatives. Ability to justify inter-professional cooperation makes it easier for practitioners to gain the necessary approvals within their institutional mandates. This paper introduces a new conceptual framework that bridges health promotion and sustainability governance to facilitate practical cross-sectoral collaboration that targets complex health-related environmental and social-ecological challenges. The proposed framework integrates six concrete overlapping themes linking health promotion and sustainability governance. The framework also highlights examples of areas where the fields could benefit from one another. Moreover, children's environmental health is proposed as a desirable overall outcome and an attractive venue for potential collaboration, because of its critical role in the public health and well-being of future generations. As a determinant of adult health, children's environmental health emphasises the vital interdependencies between health and the environment.     

Infrastructure in informal settlements: co-production of public services for inclusive governance

Recent studies on urban governance have advanced our understanding of how governance could become inclusive through community-based participation in urban development. However, a concrete process by which participatory public service provision in informal settlements consolidates inclusive governance has not been sufficiently evident in the context of the dynamic urban development witnessed in Africa. Drawing on a case study of the informal sanitation infrastructure known as a bio-centre, which has been introduced by a participatory upgrading programme in Nairobi, Kenya, this article proposes to pay attention to ways that informal settlers experience infrastructure, embed it into their everyday context of place-making and use it in unplanned manners. Inclusive governance that is effective in providing public services in informal settlements requires every development actor to be engaged in deliberating how to deal with such unplanned outcomes and eventually to co-produce services. This article argues that, rather than participation, communities’ capacity to enrol the state actors in the space of deliberation is crucial to make governance genuinely inclusive.     

Getting low-carbon governance right: learning from actors involved in Community Benefits

Interest in Community Benefits (CB) has increased over the past decade mainly due to the growing number of wind farms and related criticism. Because CB are a voluntary gesture by the developer, there is no standard practice or institutionalised approach for good governance of the benefits; every community has a different approach, tailored to local needs and depending on the stakeholders involved. Additionally, since CB are a rapidly emerging practice, little is known about their governance, what actors are involved and how affected communities participate in decision-making on renewable projects. Using the Farr wind farm in Scotland, one of the first to introduce CB, as a case study, this paper sheds light on the governance structures surrounding the set-up, management and allocation of funds. It also contributes to the emerging body of work regarding transparency and community participation in CB, and the extent to which these might facilitate a transition to a low-carbon future.